cargo-cult programming: n. A style of (incompetent) programming dominated by ritual inclusion of code or program structures that serve no real purpose. A cargo-cult programmer will usually explain the extra code as a way of working around some bug encountered in the past, but usually neither the bug nor the reason the code avoided the bug were ever fully understood (compare {shotgun debugging}). The term cargo-cult is a reference to aboriginal religions that grew up in the South Pacific after World War II. The practices of these cults center on building elaborate mockups of airplanes and military style landing strips in the hope of bringing the return of the god-like airplanes that brought such marvelous cargo during the war. Hackish usage probably derives from Richard Feynman's characterization of certain practices as "cargo-cult science" in his book `Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman' (W. W Norton & Co, New York 1985, ISBN 0-393-01921-7).

Saturday, October 30, 2010

Cold morning at the Farmer's market. Lots of Gourds, Apples and Tomatoes. Sycamore Farms even had Corn and a sign "Last of Season."

“Life’s journey is not to arrive at the grave safely in a well preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways, totally worn out, shouting ‘Holy shit…what a ride!’” ~Hunter S. Thompson

Been watching Universal Studios Legacy Collections all week:Creature from the Black Lagoon - The Legacy Collection (Creature from the Black Lagoon / Revenge of the Creature / The Creature Walks Among Us)

Wednesday, October 27, 2010

"But as I listened, I heard as if from down below in the valley the howling of many wolves. The Count's eyes gleamed, and he said.

"Listen to them, the children of the night. What music they make!" Seeing, I suppose, some expression in my face strange to him, he added, "Ah, sir, you dwellers in the city cannot enter into the feelings of the hunter." Then he rose and said."

The The Paris Review’s author interview series is now on-line. I always loved the one they did with Don DeLillo."Writing is a concentrated form of thinking. I don’t know what I think about certain subjects, even today, until I sit down and try to write about them. Maybe I wanted to find more rigorous ways of thinking."

A re-boot of Holmes in modern times will debut tonight: Sherlock. Opening episode is A Study in Pink, in contrast to A Study in Scarlet. Wonder if Mormons and RACHE come into play.

Today’s quote of the day in The Big Picture Blog is too good not to share:"If the American people ever allow private banks to control the issue of their money, first by inflation and then by deflation, the banks and corporations that will grow up around [the banks], will deprive the people of their property until their children will wake up homeless on the continent their fathers conquered." -Thomas Jefferson

Here's another:"Yes, we did produce a near-perfect republic. But will they keep it? Or will they, in the enjoyment of plenty, lose the memory of freedom? Material abundance without character is the path of destruction."

Saturday, October 23, 2010

The Mutsuapple (also known as Crispin) was introduced in 1948 and is a cross between the Golden Delicious and the Indo apple varieties first grown in Japan, and named after the Mutsu Province of Japan, where it was presumably first grown.

I don't buy many CDs, I bought this one.

Wow, only three hits last night. The better team, the hotter team won. Now the Yankees should sign Cliff Lee and throw the Baseball world into another frenzy. Since my baseball season is now over, time to hit the books. Corruption, Quantum Physics, High Finance, Herman Melville, Ancient Rome and Sports are on the agenda

They are pretty funny on the radio, let's see if it translates to the written word.

The British side of cracking the atom.

From the Random House web Site:"The Fall of the House of Zeus tells the story of Dickie Scruggs, arguably the most successful plaintiff's lawyer in America. A brother-in-law of Trent Lott, the former U.S. Senate Majority Leader, Scruggs made a fortune taking on mass tort lawsuits against “Big Tobacco” and the asbestos industries. He was hailed by Newsweek as a latter day Robin Hood, and portrayed in the movie, The Insider, as a dapper aviator-lawyer. Scruggs’ legal triumphs rewarded him lavishly, and his success emboldened both his career maneuvering and his influence in Southern politics--but at a terrible cost, culminating in his spectacular fall, when he was convicted for conspiring to bribe a Mississippi state judge. "

This is coming out in November. Rolling Stone has an excerpt. Should be fun.

All this talk of scams and Long Cons puts this classic back on the reading list. Here is the E-Text."Could you put confidence in me for instance?"

Wednesday, October 20, 2010

J.D. Salinger published a lot of Short Stories in magazines which were never re-published in anthologies. Most of them can be found on the Internet. I am currently reading Hapworth 16, 1924 which was originally publihed in the New Yorker on June 19, 1965.

Very hot on the club circuit according to my son. Yolanda Be Cool is derived from a line in Pulp Fiction - Jules: "Yolanda, I thought you said you were gonna be cool. Now when you yell at me, it makes me nervous. And when I get nervous, I get scared. And when motherfuckers get scared, that's when motherfuckers accidentally get shot."